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Fogarty records 20th career Grand-Am pole with fast lap at Belle Isle

June 1, 2012

Jon Fogarty put together the fastest lap in qualifying for the Grand-Am Detroit 200 at Belle Isle on Friday. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Jon Fogarty made the most of the first dry track conditions of the day on Friday, padding his Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series record by earning the top starting spot for Saturday's Chevrolet Grand-Am Detroit 200 at Belle Isle.

Fogarty, the Rolex Series' all-time leader in poles, notched his first top qualifying spot of the season and the 20th of his career. His fast lap of 1:22.369 (90.908 mph) in the No. 99 Gainsco Auto Insurance Corvette DP was just enough to edge Max Angelelli, winner of the last two races in the Daytona Prototype class. It also backed up co-driver Alex Gurney's chart-topping lap in a soggy first practice on Friday morning.

"It's great that the weather cleared,” Fogarty said. “We felt like we had a pretty good car in the wet and just kind of figured it would be a good car in the dry, and it was. "I'm just really pleased. It's good to be back on the pole.”

Angelelli, whose top lap was just 0.076 second behind Fogarty's, will start second in the No. 10 SunTrust Corvette DP that he shares with Ricky Taylor. Action Express Racing claimed the second row, with Terry Borcheller third in the No. 5 Corvette DP and Darren Law fourth in the No. 9 Corvette DP, completing a top-four sweep for Chevrolet in its hometown. Borcheller's co-driver is Darren Law, while Law is sharing the No. 9 machine with João Barbosa.

Guy Cosmo paced qualifying for the Grand Touring (GT) class, driving the No. 03 Tequila Patrón Ferrari 458 from Extreme Speed Motorsports. He'll start 11th overall with co-driver Scott Sharp in Saturday's two-hour event, Grand-Am's first on the 2.1-mile Detroit Belle Isle street course. Cosmo's fast lap of 1:22.369 (90.908 mph) marked a pair of firsts--the first pole for both the driver and for the Italian model, which made its series debut this season.

"Certainly a great day," Cosmo said. "It's fun to finally have an opportunity to be in a nice, competitive car and show up at a race like this. Detroit is a place that I have always heard is a fantastic race, incredible course . . . everybody raves about the event here."

John Edwards was second in GT qualifying in the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro GT.R that he will co-drive with Robin Liddell with Andrew Davis third in the No. 59. The Brumos Companies Porsche GT3 he shares with Leh Keen.

The race is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. Eastern and will be broadcast live on Speed and MRN Radio.